{"id":37922,"date":"2025-11-07T11:48:24","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T16:48:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/?p=37922"},"modified":"2025-11-07T11:48:24","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T16:48:24","slug":"f1-to-consider-longer-qualifying-sessions-for-2026-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/11\/07\/f1-to-consider-longer-qualifying-sessions-for-2026-season\/","title":{"rendered":"F1 to consider longer qualifying sessions for 2026 season"},"content":{"rendered":"

Next season marks the beginning of new set of regulations, making F1 2026<\/a> a massive unknown for teams and drivers. However, the new aerodynamic and engine specifications are not the only changes due next year.<\/p>\n

As F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali<\/a> often emphasises, the sport is increasingly looking to evolve and innovate its format.<\/p>\n

This approach has been met with mixed reactions. Some of the ideas floated by Domenicali, such as increasing the number of Sprints and the potential for reverse grids, are regularly opposed in F1 circles.<\/p>\n

These big tweaks to the race weekend format are likely to meet resistance from teams and drivers. At least in the short term, this makes their implementation unlikely.<\/p>\n

However, there are other more feasible proposals that could be implemented in 2026.<\/p>\n

Longer qualifying and standardised race distances on the cards<\/h2>\n

One of the many new variables in 2026 will be Cadillac<\/a>, whose presence increases the number of teams in Formula 1 to 11.<\/p>\n

This addition has been welcomed by fans, recognising that another team inevitably creates more action on track – as well as creating two seats for F1-calibre drivers to fill. At the same time, two more drivers on track could complicate things in qualifying.<\/p>\n

F1 already has something of a problem in qualifying, where drivers habitually queue up in the pit-lane before leaving for their out laps. As seen in COTA<\/a>, this can create scenarios where drivers fail to set a lap before time runs out.<\/p>\n

With another two cars on track, the risk of this recurring becomes even higher. Not only is this a risk in Q1, but Q2 will also see more cars circulating at once. Six cars will be eliminated in the first two qualifying sessions, meaning a very busy track in the build-up to Q3.<\/p>\n

At short circuits like Monaco, Austria and Brazil, setting clean laps could become a nightmare without an extended qualifying.<\/p>\n

This is why the F1 Commission will discuss increasing the length of Q1 (18 minutes) and Q2 (15 minutes). As reported by The Race<\/a>, these sessions could be extended by a few minutes each – making it easier for drivers to complete laps.<\/p>\n

Whilst this would not entirely prevent mishaps, it should give teams more wriggle-room to avoid them.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, there are also discussions about standardising race duration. Due to the characteristics of different circuits, there can be a great divergence in how long races last. The Italian GP, for example, is often thirty minutes shorter than the Singapore GP.<\/p>\n

To counteract this, laps could be added or reduced at certain venues to ensure all Grand Prix have a more similar duration.<\/p>\n

Confirmation expected by end of the year<\/h4>\n

Another proposal on the table is specifically for Sprint weekends. F1 is considering a mechanism to extend Practice by 15 minutes in the event of a red flag. This would ensure teams can collect enough data in the only Free Practice session during a Sprint Race weekend.<\/p>\n

There are still some uncertainties to be addressed with these propositions. For example, Stefano Domenicali has suggested that races are too long and could be shortened. In theory, this means that efforts to standardise Grand Prix duration could see average race time reduced.<\/p>\n

Generally speaking, this is something teams and drivers oppose. This could mean that race standardisation can only be achieved by increasing the laps at certain circuits – such as Monza. Of course, this could also meet resistance from different stakeholders.<\/p>\n

The duration of Grand Prix should increase next year anyway, since the new regulations<\/a> will create slower cars. This could dampen the receptiveness of teams to making concessions.<\/p>\n

In any case, these ideas are far less contention than some of the other ideas that have been floated in recent years.<\/p>\n

Clarification on the implementation of these proposals for 2026 should be revealed before the end of the season.<\/p>\n

Main photo: Clive Mason\/Getty Images (Red Bull Content Pool)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Next season marks the beginning of new set of regulations, making F1 2026 a massive unknown for teams and drivers. However, the new aerodynamic and engine specifications are not the only changes due next year. As F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali often emphasises, the sport is increasingly looking to evolve and innovate its format. This approach […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4927,"featured_media":37924,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[2452],"class_list":["post-37922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-formula-1","category-news","tag-f1-2025-season"],"modified_by":"Jaden Diaz-Ndisang","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4927"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37922"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37922\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37929,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37922\/revisions\/37929"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}